On the evening of Thursday, January 31, an AA van towed a silver-grey Ford Mondeo and parked it outside our house.

Not long after, the car's alarm went off and continued to go off at the slightest wind or when a lorry passed.

This was a particularly windy weekend. The alarm kept going off and was driving us insane.

In the early evening of the Saturday, I rang the AA to see if the owner could be traced.

Surprisingly, the AA had no record of having assisted the car.

I then rang the police, who told me it was the responsibility of Brighton and Hove City Council's environment office.

I pleaded with the lady and she managed to locate the wife of the owner, who told us he was on his way to the car to remove a few items.

As I was ending my telephone call to the police, I saw him arrive and went out to speak to him.

I asked him if he could turn off the alarm because it kept going off when the wind hit the car.

He said he did not know how to so I suggested he contacted the AA again because I was sure they would know how it was done.

He later left without having done anything to the car and the alarm continued to go off.

On Monday, after a couple of sleepless nights, I rang the environment office again. I spoke to a lady who, on the instructions of her superior, Keith Smith, told me it was not the council's problem.

If the car was taxed, there was nothing she could do about it.

She told me I had to phone the police again. I told her the police had said nuisance car alarms were the responsibility of the council but she denied this.

So I rang the police again and, on this occasion, spoke to a very unhelpful lady - "Not our problem, contact the council."

I told her I had already done so and that the council said it was the responsibility of the police. She questioned the telephone number I had called and gave me another one, 01273 292369.

I called and left a message on an answering machine but heard nothing more.

By Wednesday, I had assumed the car's battery had run flat because the alarm could not be heard any more. Peace at last.

Last Tuesday, the owner turned up to clear out everything worth taking from his car. I can only guess he plans to leave it there.

The tax runs out at the end of this month so maybe then someone will take an interest.

Whose responsibility is it to save us from these dreaded car alarms?

Think about how would you feel if someone left a broken-down car outside your home and the alarm went off every hour or so.

Surely someone must be able to protect us from this torture?

-I C Lindsten, Preston Drove, Brighton